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9.15.2016

I'm Robert Stanek and today I'm writing about finding success as a writer and becoming a bestseller. In 1995, I attended a writer’s conference on Maui, hosted at the swanky Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. I’d just signed my first contract with Macmillan after years of trying to break in to publishing as a writer. Unlike most other attendees, I didn’t stay at the Ritz-Carlton—the hotel wasn’t something I could afford at the time. On a military salary, with a wife and toddler accompanying me, the best I could afford was a $79 a night room a few miles away, and the only reason I could afford to get to Maui in the first place was because I was stationed on Oahu, where I worked at the hush-hush NSA facility Edward Snowden made famous.

The conference was mostly about breaking in as a writer, with seminars on writing, getting agents, getting published and such. I felt a little like the cat who swallowed the canary, as I’d already managed to land a contract. It wasn’t something I’d say in the crowd I’d found myself in, many of whom were rather snobby and elitist, certain they were the best writer in the world and that their big break was just around the corner.

The conference went poorly and I ended up skipping big parts of it to spend time with my wife and son instead. Nonetheless, attendance taught me some valuable lessons, especially about how much I disliked snobby elitists. I also decided sitting around talking about writing for hours and hours was a colossal waste of time. Instead of talking about writing, I would instead just write.

And just write I did. My first book, Electronic Publishing Unleashed, was 1031 pages in print and I wrote 800 pages of it over a 4-month period while also working full-time in the military. The other 200 pages of the book were written by contributors, one of which was originally supposed to be the author of the book, but for one reason or another wasn’t able to produce what was required. Meanwhile, the acquisitions editor loved my work and kept expanding my role in the book until I was its author and the others were contributors.

Electronic Publishing Unleashed was published in September 1995 to great success and I signed a contract for a second book with Macmillan almost immediately. This book, Web Publishing Unleashed, was entirely my project from start to finish. The book was written to a tight schedule, and I wrote as much of it as I dared as quickly as I could: again 800 pages over a 4-month period. I hand selected the contributors to round out the content and the book was published in March 1996 to even bigger success than the first.

Meanwhile, I was at a crossroads in my military career. I’d earned my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees while in Hawaii and my commanders were recommending me for Officers Training School (OTS). As one of the most decorated soldiers in the unit and a frequently recognized top performer, I knew most of the top brass and they knew me. After OTS, I could have any job I wanted in the military. But then there was this writing thing.

You’d think my initial success in writing would make the answer an easy one. That second book was a blockbuster bestseller from the start. It was selling like snow cones during a heat wave. But the answer wasn’t an easy one. I’d written Electronic Publishing Unleashed as a work for hire, meaning I received no royalties, even though the book had over $2.5 million in sales. I’d written Web Publishing Unleashed as a royalty contract, but I had received a very low rate, even with an agent. How low? Less than 1/2 the industry standard rate, and then since I’d signed up with an agent, he was going to get 1/5th of that.

Worse, I wouldn't receive my first royalty check for some time. It takes months for royalty payments to make it to authors. Books are published, shipped to stores. Stores pay based on sales, typically in 90 days or so, and in 90 days or so after getting paid, publishers pay authors. Still, my publisher loved my work and was in the process of signing me to three new contracts for FrontPage Unleashed, Peter Norton’s Guide to Java Programming and Web Publishing Unleashed Professional Reference Edition.

Thus, when I decided to leave the military in June 1996, I had no idea where I was going to go or even if I would actually ever get paid royalties. My wife, son and I ended up in a tiny apartment in Oregon. Still waiting for that first royalty payment and living off the dregs of advances, I wrote all three books in the apartment manager’s back room. The tiny apartment wasn’t big enough for writing, and my wife’s sister and her daughter had joined us in Oregon and moved in with us as well. Fortunately, the building manager graciously offered me the writing space, where I was cooped up 16 hours a day working to finish all those books.

How we ended up in Oregon? I'm not really sure myself. It is where Peter Norton was. Perhaps at the time I thought since I was writing Peter Norton’s Guide to Java Programming with Peter Norton he’d actually be working with me on the book. As it turned out, I never even got to meet Peter and his contribution to the book was nothing more than his name even though he received half the royalties. Peter Norton’s Guide to Java Programming was published in July 1996.

By this time, offers from other publishers were pouring in. One in particular that intrigued me was from PC Magazine. They were looking for a regular contributor to write technology articles about the Internet, the Web and related technologies. Exactly the space I worked in. I was up to my ears in books, but how could I or anyone else possibly turn down $1+ a word?! I took the offer and started writing regularly for the magazine.

After a few months in Oregon, the family and I moved on to Washington state, and the wait began anew for the first royalty check to reach me. However, I finally did have advances in hand for the three books I’d written. The publisher had made a special effort to get the payments to me and I’d also finalized two new contracts for FrontPage 97 Unleashed and Netscape ONE Developer’s Guide.

Those payments paid for a U-Haul and helped secure a larger apartment in Olympia, which was about 8 hours or so away from where we lived in Oregon. My wife’s sister and her daughter were still living with us, so we really needed the big space. While we were there, FrontPage Unleashed was published (September 1996) and I was already hard at work on the other books and writing for PC Magazine.

The new apartment was nice enough, but still not a home for my family, and still rather crowded with my wife's sister and her daughter living with my family. Nonetheless, we settled in and I worked. My writing space was in the master bedroom, so I had the difficult task of crawling out of bed to a chair a few feet away every morning where I wrote through the day and into the evening.

For months, the rapid succession of contracts, delays from the publisher, delays from my agents (I was with Studio B by this time) and other things had all been between me and ever getting paid my first royalty check for all the work I was doing. That check seemed some sort of myth by this time, so I was unsure if I'd ever receive it and rather certain I'd made a horrendous mistake by leaving the military.

Just about the time every cent we had ran out and our options were running out, a check finally arrived. The check was for the first royalty book I’d written, which had been published in March of that year. It was now September.

In the military, I barely made enough to get by. I’d finished college and earned my degrees only because my wife worked overtime to help pay the tuition. The check I was holding in my hand was two year’s military salary. I nearly fell over. It’d taken months to get to me, but there it was. Proof that I’d done something right.

To say that we celebrated that night is an understatement, but we weren't able to go out anywhere or do anything special. It takes days for a paper check to clear, especially when it's made out for a huge amount of money, and the one credit card we had was maxed out already. Still, we celebrated.

The next month, October, my wife’s sister and daughter moved out. With writing seeming like a sure thing for the future, my wife and I started looking for a house. We found one right away and by early November we moved in. It was our first house. We quickly made it a home.

There are a big surprise for us soon after, and just in time for Thanksgiving: another royalty check.

I was upstairs working in the office when my wife brought it to me. She’d opened the letter and from her expression I wasn’t quite sure whether it was extremely good news or extremely bad news.

At my hesitation, my wife said, It's good news, really good news.

And it was. I’d never seen that much money in my life, yet there it was on a check written out to me.

I was stunned, shocked.

My wife gave me a big kiss and wrap her arms around me. We stood like that for the longest time, just reveling in the moment. It was a measure of my success as a writer. A success as wild as any I ever imagined.

The books I had been working on were published shortly after. Web Publishing Unleashed Professional Reference Edition in December 1996, FrontPage 97 Unleashed in January 1997 and Netscape ONE Developer’s Guide in March 1997. Altogether, those early books had many millions in sales at retail, exceeding even the wildest of my wildest dreams.In your own writing, dare to dream. You never know what might happen.Thanks for reading,Robert Stanek

8.30.2016

To date, there are half a billion reviews at Amazon
sites that don’t meet Amazon’s own criteria for acceptability. This represents about 3 out of every 5 reviews. Is it any wonder
when Amazon’s own management and executive staff are allowed to break the rules
when it suits them to target an author whose book wasn’t as flattering as
Amazon hoped it would be. Yes, I’m talking about Brad Stone and The Everything
Store, a book lambasted by Bezos’s own wife, Amazon executives, management and
other employees in contradiction to Amazon’s own guidelines.

It’s no surprise that corruption is rampant at and within Amazon. Take
for example what happened to my book Windows 10: The Personal Trainer, which
was the first full-length Windows 10 book to market. Several individuals
plagiarized the contents of the book, word for word in numerous places, entire
passages and paragraphs, and even daring to take screenshots of my screenshots and
use them in their texts. Subsequently they deluged my books Windows 10: The
Personal Trainer and Windows 10: Fast Start with poor reviews while purchasing
five star reviews by the dozens for their own books from Fiverr and other sites.

You might imagine that an author who’s been in publishing
for 30 years, with hundreds of successful titles and nearly 10 million readers
might be listened to, especially when he meticulously documents the plagiarism.
You’d be wrong.

Complaints to Amazon documenting the plagiarism instance by
instance across the entire texts resulted in my books—all William Stanek books—being
targeted by Amazon, along with the accounts of loyal readers. Readers who
simply had read and reviewed a handful of my books across the hundreds of
titles I have available.

What happened to the plagiarizers? Nothing initially, yet
any complaint I dared to lodge with Amazon about the plagiarism was met with
immediate retaliation at all levels. Why? I had no idea, but it was déjà vu
because a similar thing had happened to my fiction works, which is why I began
to investigate who the authors of the books were.

It wasn’t difficult to discover that as before one of the
books was written by a family member/associate of an Amazon employee. While I
may have been naïve before to not know how to try to resolve such a situation,
I wasn’t any longer. I quickly enlisted the help of someone with the ability to
go over the head of those I could reach at Amazon.

We also pointed out to Amazon that my book had been available
previously. Windows 10: The Personal Trainer is in fact an updated version of
my book Windows 7: The Personal Trainer, which was itself published previously
by Microsoft. I’m guessing that quickly put an end to the counter-claims of the
plagiarists whose books were eventually removed from sale.

You might think that when someone steals another’s work and
bases nearly their entire text on what they stole that they wouldn’t be able to
republish such a text. You’d be wrong again. The book by the family
member/associate of an Amazon employee was returned almost instantly to sale,
and the other book followed a few months later.

Meanwhile, the print edition of Windows 10: The Personal
Trainer was pulled from sale for nearly 2 weeks during the height of its success. No explanation, other than Amazon
later admitting it was a mistake. A new deluge of poor reviews for Windows 10:
The Personal Trainer and Windows 10 Fast Start followed.

When it was restored to sale, Windows 10: The Personal Trainer also disappeared from Amazon search results for Windows 10 books and didn't show up in other searches either. As no one was able to find the book, sales disappeared.

Did I dare say
anything to Amazon? No, I did not because when the heart of a company is
corrupted there’s no point.

Thanks for reading,

William Robert Stanek

--
1) Beyond issues of ethics and morality, the fundamental issue--among
others--is that Amazon guidelines don’t allow anyone with a financial interest (either
for or against) to review a product.

Persons associated with Amazon, and in particular employees,
had a vested, financial interested in limiting the success of Stone’s book,
reducing its potential impact on Amazon’s bottom line and controlling the
message surrounding the book. None more so than executives, management staff
and others holding stock or stock options in the company. Amazon guidelines do
not allow any persons with a financial interest in a product (either for or
against) to review a product, but that didn’t stop persons associated with the company from ensuring their
messaging, damage control and spin was heard far and wide.

Stone’s book had the potential to cause both a significant hit to
Amazon’s public image and an enormous impact on Amazon’s bottom line,
especially in the days leading up to and following its publication. Without
Amazon’s public spin and careful management of perception through reviews and
other means, Stone’s book could have caused lasting, long-term damage to the
company and its reputation, not to mention its CEO.

Whether the reviews are removed entirely or quietly continue to
disappear, it’s important to remember this is a fight that’s already won. The
damage control and message control have already been accomplished.

Make no mistake that Amazon was in a precarious position in
the timeframe surrounding the publication of The Everything Store. Amazon as a
public company had never been consistently profitable in its nearly 20-year history (at the time),
quite the contrary it had been a consistent money loser. A sway in public
opinion could have derailed the Ponzi scheme of its unfettered access to
capital markets.

The difference between Amazon then and Amazon now is
hundreds of billions in market capitalization. If several hundred billion
dollars aren’t motivation enough for what was done, I
don’t know what is.

6.03.2016

"The writing style is strong... The ideas are
interesting and the writing good," wrote Betsy Mitchell, who went on to
become Editor-in-Chief at Del Rey. "The fantasy world you have created is
truly wonderful and rich. Your characters seem real and full of life," wrote
Sheila Gilbert, who is a co-owner of DAW Books. Both were written in reply
letters after the editors requested the full manuscript for Keeper Martin’s
Tale, my debut novel of epic fantasy. This was the 1990s and these heady statements,
even though they ultimately ended in rejection letters, were the fuel that
drove my writing.

To say that Keeper Martin’s Tale made the rounds in the
1990s is an understatement. My queries went out month after month, year after
year, and usually one submission at a time while I waited and waited and waited
for a response. Rarely, like a white whale half seen in the distance, but
frequently enough to keep me motivated, my queries were answered with requests
to see the full manuscript as I mentioned.

Over a period of years and with a variety of manuscripts,
including fantasy, sci-fi and more, I received exciting responses from Diana
Gill, Beth Meacham, Jim Minz, Toni Weisskopf, Betsy Wollheim, Terri Windling
and others. One requested full manuscript submission even made it all the way
to Tom Doherty, founder of Tor Books.

These types of requests and responses often came with
letters that had handwritten notes or notations signed by the editors themselves
where they’d say wonderful things. One executive editor said "It's a
creative, provoking, and above all, thoughtful story," before going on to
talk about how hard it was to launch a new book or series by a new writer.

How hard it was to publish an unknown was a frequent mantra.
The book is very good but we want more, another. Some suggested I try breaking
out with short stories, a collection or nonfiction first, and then once
published try to publish fiction. Undaunted, I framed and pinned up some of the
best responses and rejection letters as I went and used them as inspiration to
keep writing. Other writers I knew weren’t even getting past the query letter.
Meanwhile, I was getting regular requests for full manuscripts.

One editor finally told me quite matter-of-factly that the
story I created wasn’t right for the publisher’s line of books. Epic quests
like Terry Brook’s Shannara were what publishers were publishing and readers
were buying. The publisher didn’t quite know what to do with the type of story
I had written.

Keeper Martin’s Tale and the other Ruin Mist books were, at
their heart, a story of intrigue between two powerful families: The House of
Alder and the House of Tyr’anth. Epic quests were a part of the story, but they
weren’t the story.

Versions of the books that got the best response were the
ones where I submitted the story of Adrina, Vilmos and Seth as separate
chapters. Chapter 1 began Adrina’s story. Chapter 2, Vilmos’. Chapter 3,
Seth’s. Chapter 4 continued Adrina’s story, Chapter 5 Vilmos’ and so on. But
even though the approach attracted, I was told repeatedly in the end that the approach
would never sell. No one would buy a book where the story switched to a
different character every chapter, especially when later in the books there
were so many different characters. Any reader of current fantasy fiction knows
how wrong they were about that.

Wrong or not, their words directed my efforts and my
writing. My first big break came because of the frequent insistence that I try
breaking in with nonfiction or other types of writing, that once I was
published and a known quantity I would have an easier time selling my lengthy
fantasy epic and other works of fiction.

The break came when I sold an editor at Macmillan on a
proposal for a technical how-to book. At the time, I was one of a select few
with a strong background in writing and substantial technical expertise in this
new experiment called the World Wide Web. Originally, I was supposed to just be
a contributor to a book in progress, but the acquisition editor liked my
approach, ideas and writing so much that eventually my approach was adopted
instead and I took ownership and wrote over 800 pages of the 1000-page work.

The book became a top-seller for the publisher and put me on
the bestseller list. I was immediately asked by Macmillan to write another
book. That second book became a blockbuster bestseller and my career as a writer
was established in grand style. My biggest moment back then was when I walked
into a Borders and saw two floor-to-chest-high stacks of the book. Now, this
was also a 1000-page book, but it was still a sight to behold. That book and the
ones that followed sold like hotcakes at $49.99 - $79.99 each, and that was
the 1990s.

Twenty years later, I am now the author of nearly 200
full-length works of fiction and nonfiction. My books have been published and/or
distributed by nearly every major publisher. The big ones at least, including
O’Reilly Media, Simon & Schuster, McGraw Hill, Pearson Education,
Microsoft, and Random House.

Not bad for a guy who spent all those years with his face
pressed against the glass, trying to break in.

Thanks for reading,

Robert Stanek

Stay in touch with Robert Stanek by connecting on facebook
at https://www.facebook.com/robertstanekauthor or on twitter at
http://twitter.com/robertstanek.

5.25.2016

My name is Emily Asimov. When I heard of Robert Stanek’s
lifetime achievement nomination, I jumped at the chance to write a tribute. Robert
is one of the most inspirational people I know and an exceptionally talented
writer. He’s also the reason my work is published today, and the author of some
of my favorite childhood reads. From his superbly written “The Kingdoms & the
Elves of the Reaches” to his sublime “Journey Beyond the Beyond,” I have been
smitten with his work for years and gobbled up nearly everything he’s written.

An extremely prolific author, Robert Stanek has been writing
for over 30 years and has produced close to 200 book-length works of fiction
and nonfiction. It’s no secret to anyone who follows his work that he also writes
as William Stanek and has been published by nearly every Big 6 / Big 5
publishing house. That feat alone would, and has, made him the subject of
jealousy and envy throughout the writing community.

What most don’t know about Robert Stanek is his giving,
earnest spirit. Robert is the type of guy who would (and has) literally given
the shirt off his back to help someone in need.

Robert has given tirelessly throughout his life to support
causes he believes in. Anyone who knows him knows the causes he champions:
veterans, peoples with disabilities, animal rights, conservation, and
education. And books and libraries have no better friend.

If there was ever an author who deserved to be recognized
for lifetime achievement it is Robert Stanek. When I think of books and authors
I’ve read and reread during my life, only a rare few spring to mind with Robert
being atop that short list. His works have challenged and inspired me. His
works have educated me. His works have opened my mind.

Listing all of my favorites and the reasons why here would
take pages, so I’ll keep things brief and list the top few:

The Kingdoms & the Elves of the Reaches, fifteen years
in print and forever in the canon of fantasy classics

Journey Beyond the Beyond, a beautiful, underappreciated
master work

Air War, a timeless snapshot of life in war that pays homage
to the men and women Robert Stanek served with

The Cards in the Deck, an edgy thriller that far surpasses
the original work, The Pieces of the Puzzle

After the Machines, one of the best works of science fiction
I’ve ever read

These books alone are reason enough for Robert to be “one of
the most featured and respected Kids & Young Adult authors” as named by The Audio Bookstore. But Robert has
written many, many more, and all of which are worthy of your time and support.

When it comes to helping others, Robert has spent a tremendous amount of time and effort championing veterans, peoples with disabilities, and other causes he believes in. Robert is a veteran of multiple wars, conflicts and campaigns, including Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Provide Comfort. In his inspirational true story, Air War, he writes about doing what was needed when called upon, the pieces of himself left behind on the battlefield, and his willingness to give everything to what he believes in. I came away from the reading in tears, a new respect for our service men and women, and with a profound sense that something deep within me had changed. Something had changed. I had grown as a person from living his experiences through his words.

The causes and challenges of peoples with disabilities aren't just something Robert supports but something he believes in wholeheartedly. He has a daughter with Downs Syndrome and some disability from his service. Whether supporting the Wounded Warrior Project, Special Olympics or otherwise, you can tell he gives a hundred percent every time.

People like Robert who give with their heart rarely receive anything in return. But after reading this, I hope you will join me in supporting Robert Stanek, spreading the good word about his work, and sharing his kind heart and beautiful spirit with others.

Robert Stanek is an author whose works you should read and shout about from the rooftops. He's earned the support a hundred times over.

11.19.2015

A quick update for Go Indies. This holiday season, I urge you to tell friends and family to shop digital online, but shop local otherwise.

Online is the place to buy digital, such as e-books, apps, e-games and e-music, but offline should be where you shop otherwise. Shopping in stores and locally protects jobs and the economy. Millions of jobs are on the line.

Food for thought: For every job Amazon adds to its workforce, up to 10 jobs are taken from the economy. Many of those jobs are gone forever.

Amazon’s vision of the future includes a completely autonomous robotic workforce in its warehouses filling orders replacing people. Robots are already used extensively throughout Amazon’s fulfillment system. Amazon’s vision of the future also includes drones delivering orders, replacing drivers wherever possible. If this future happens, Amazon’s impact on the economy and jobs could double or triple.

Show your support for people, the economy and jobs by blogging, tweeting and sharing:

6.18.2015

I’m Robert Stanek, a pro
author since 1994 and an indie since 2001. Today, I have a special report in a
continuing series of articles on book promotion services. I had hoped to have the full research reports
completed for a number of services we’ve been tracking and testing since 2014.
But with the unexpected early release of Windows 10, which I’ll be writing
about in three upcoming books: Windows 10: The Personal Trainer, Windows 10
Step Up and Windows 10 Fast Start, I’ll have to keep this update short and
sweet. Thanks to the team for the initial writeup, with my additions and edits!

Team Update

Yes, Team Read Indies heard and considered your increasing
complaints and gripes about BookBub (www.bookbub.com),
and how you’re tired of its high prices that keep going higher for decreasing
returns on your investment and sales. Team Read Indies increasingly agrees the service is
overpriced for what’s delivered, and that pricing seems largely based on how
much money they think the average writer is going to make from a promotion. We
also agree with complaints that the information and statistics provided by
BookBub are misleading and need strong disclaimers regarding active, open,
click and buy rates.

Our research on BookBub is here
and here.
For another take on BookBub, we recommend the independent research from Indies
Now:

The eye-opening graphic below, reprinted with permission
from the book, best summarizes the true picture regarding BookBub--and the
statistics come from BookBub’s own published numbers and public statements.

As the graphic shows, one million subscribers doesn’t mean
one million people are going to see the ad for your book. Only about 30 – 45%
of subscribers are active at any given time and of these, only a smaller
percentage even open the daily email containing any particular ad. This quickly
whittles down the 1 million number to the base number of people who potentially
could see your ad: 22 – 35% of the actives or about 66,000 to 157,500 per one million subscribers.

Of these, only 21 - 29% actually click on something and of the clickers only 34 - 58% actually buy something. Overall, only 8 to 12 % of buyers buy your book (when an email has 5 to 12 book listings). The chances of getting a buy go down proportionally to the number of book listings. If a daily email has 20 to 25 books instead of 5 to 12 your chances of success go down 50 to 75% (closer to 3 to 5% of buyers).

An update on promotion services Team Read Indies has been
researching since 2014 and had hoped to have final research reports on :

Bargain Booksy / Free Booksy

Bargain Booksy and Free Booksy are two of our favorite up
and comers. Both services are run by the same management team – a team who
graciously accepted our offer to talk with them regarding their services. Robert
sat down with the management team and conducted an extensive interview, which
will be part of the upcoming research report.

As the names imply, Bargain Booksy is where readers go to
find bargain books and Free Booksy is where readers go to find free books.

With Bargain Booksy, pricing ranges from $25 to $50 and all
genres of books are accepted. Pricing here is somewhat high relative to return on investment, and like most promotion services somewhat high for the value delivered. Fair pricing, based on observed results from the 18-month study, would be at least 20% - 35% lower than current rates.

However, this
is true of all services we’ve tested. For example, based on actual value
delivered for paid books, BookBub is priced 150% to 500% over the actual value
delivered, depending on genre and book price. However, BookBub offers a mostly
fair value for promotions of free books.

With Free Booksy, pricing ranges from $40 to $200 and all
genres of books are accepted. Though we like the service, pricing here is very high
relative to return on investment and value delivered. As an example, a paranormal romance promoted
at BookBub for $195 will get most authors 4,000 to 16,000 downloads, a cost of
.05 to .0125 per download.

A paranormal romance promoted at Free Booksy for $200 will
get most authors 1,200 to 3,500 downloads, a cost of .17 to .06 per download,
making Free Booksy up to 7X more costly than BookBub. Fair pricing, based on observed
results from the 18-month study, would be at least 50% - 75% lower than current
rates. To be clear, the same is true of most of the promotion services we’ve
studied:

BookBub is overpriced 150% to 500% for paid books. We’d like
to see flat-pricing for paid books—not pricing based on how much money BookBub
thinks you’re going to make off a promotion and then pricing everything so most
authors break even at best (and at worst spend a lot of money for a lot less return than expected).

ENT’s recent price hike has made them less of a value and
actually put them on the overpriced side. The price hike was unwarranted and
also increasingly based on how much money an author can potentially earn from a
promotion. Whether an author wants to price a paid book at .99, 1.99 or 2.99
pricing should be the same.

Fussy Reader also recently hiked prices, making them less of
a value. We’d like to see the prices rollback to retain the high value we saw
in our earlier research.

The Reading Club has had two recent price hikes, both making
the service less of a value. Again, we’d like to see the prices rollback to
retain the high value we saw in our earlier research.

Where Bargain Booksy and Free Booksy shine is with helping
newer authors with promotion, as their rules and restrictions are more inline
with how these types of businesses should operate. Basically, if you have a book
that has a marketable cover, a marketable description, looks professional
overall, appropriate pricing and money to spend on advertising, you should
qualify for any service and be able to spend that advertising money wherever
and however you please. Amen. Kudos to Bargain Booksy and Free Booksy for their
openness and true interest in helping authors.

Kindle Marketing

On to Kindle Marketing (https://www.fiverr.com/kindlemarketing).
Our earlier
research on Fiverr promotion was pretty condemning. However, we did find a
few bright spots and have researched them thoroughly. One of these is Kindle Marketing, a dedicated
team of marketers who truly cares about your success and gives excellent value
for your marketing dollars. The $5
basic gig plus the $5 viral social media option gave the best value: daily
promotion for 7 days on social media. This is a great value for the investment,
as Kindle Marketing will create an ad for you and then promote it up to 20
times each day for 7 days, giving you up to 140 promotion opportunities.

Basically, in talking with Kindle Marketing your $10 is
buying 1-hour of an associate’s time. Kindle Marketing will go to sites, groups
on Facebook and other social media and post for you each day. We’ve tried
something similar and it took 5 hours to set up with all the sites and another
3 hours to make a similar number of promotions each day ourselves. So $10 for
an hour of an experienced marketer’s time? Yes, a great value.

Another excellent value was the $5 basic gig plus the $5
viral social media option and the $20 option to extend the promotion for 30
days. Again, a great value for the investment, as Kindle Marketing will create
an ad for you and then promote it up to 20 times each day for 30 days, giving
you many promotion opportunities. In talking with Kindle Marketing your $30 is
buying 3-hours of an associate’s time. Considering Fiverr gets a 20% cut and
Kindle Marketing actually only receives $24, it’s a great value, unless you
really have the time to do something like this yourself. We tried and even with
everything set up for promotion, it took 6 -7 hours of our time.

Another excellent value was the career
makeover gig, which provides everything an author needs to start turning
his or her writing career around and start getting sales. To be effective, you
really do need to order the complete set of extras in the appropriate
quantities and then get out of their way to let them help you. The service
requires an investment of time and money—and Kindle Marketing expects the
author to work as hard as they do to turn things around. Here the options
you need to make the service worthwhile can include cover revisions, bio revision, social media building, revision of book descriptions, keywords and categories, and more depending on author.

The initial analysis provides a report on your current
author platform and where you need to go. A required first step so Kindle
Marketing can review where you are on social media. You’re not really paying
for the report; you’re paying for their time in reviewing your current efforts.
Thus, if you buy this option and nothing else, you’re wasting your money and
time.

The average cost of a makeover was $200 to $500 and the results? Authors who previously had no or few sales, started seeing regular sales. To them, it was money well spent. There are caveats, though. For authors with one book or two, your time and effort is better spent on writing your next book. You really do need 3 or more books to benefit from this type of service.

Genre Pulse

Genre
Pulse is another promotion service we’ve researched and will report on in
the weeks ahead. James, the founder of the service, was also gracious with his
time and willingness to work with our team and Robert. Robert interviewed James
and discussed the service at length, the results of which will be published
with our forthcoming study.

Genre
Pulse is a service that shows a lot of promise and potential. However, during
our research, the service was priced at $30 for full promo and $10 for apps
only promo. Both of which were slightly overpriced based on results. The
service is now priced at $40 for full promo and $15 for apps only promo, with
no real change in results. Though the service is growing, we don’t feel the
price increase is warranted. Look for the occasional sales that put pricing for
full promo at $20 - $25 to get a better value. Though fairer pricing would be $20 flat fee. Apps only pricing, however,
needs to come down about 50%, which would then make the offering a value.

That said, Genre Pulse retains a recommendation with caveats we'll discuss in more depth later. James seems to genuinely want to help authors, so let him know your thoughts and give his service a try! If you don't get the expected results, let him know that too and he may help you out.

3.22.2015

BuckBooks, operated by ArchAngelInk (AKA ArchAngelEST, Matt
Stone, Rob Archangel, Buck Flogging, et al), is a promotion service that
requires member authors to promote and talk up the service in exchange for free
promotion. Be aware that authors talking up the service typically are being
compensated in some way to do so, whether by virtue of their free promotions or otherwise.

BuckBooks is not a mini BookBub or anything
approaching a mini anything and those stating such are doing so for the sole purpose of getting authors to sign up. Team ReadIndies has not been able to verify any of the wild claims of sales success, and we have tried many times. ReadIndies is issuing an avoid advisory on this service, based on
this behavior and the behavior of its founders.

In our earlier report on Social Media Promotion Services,
we were disappointed to find that by and large the facebook/twitter/blog services didn't work. However, we did hold back on discussing a service with potential:

Although this service was included in our earlier study, we
just now completed full research on the service for the 24 participating authors
who used the service to promote 34 books from many genres/categories,
including:

Mystery

Thriller

Romance

Scifi

Fantasy

Horror

Literary Fiction

Self-Help

Cooking

Health

At least 16 of the 24 participants used the service one or
more times. What follows is a summary of results gathered.

We didn't include our research in the previous report as
fundamental changes to the service were made subsequent to the time we started
our research.

Bknights provides several Fiverr gigs, all of which revolve
around various social media promotions:

$5 for promotion to 15 Best Kindle sites

$5 for FB Page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Book-Spot/376198459143010?fref=ts

$5 for promotion on a website at www.DigitalBookSpot.com

$5 for promotion on Twitter @DigitalBookSpot

$5 for promotion via DigitalBookSpot newsletter for ebook
lovers

The first gig submits a FREE kindle book to 15 kindle
sites/facebook groups. The remaining four gigs revolve around DigitalBookSpot
promotions. Individually, the participants did not believe each option was
worth $5, and collectively, the full package doesn't seem to be worth $25
either. However, if you can get multiple services for $5 instead of $15, $20 or
$25, this likely would be a good value.

To get multiple services for $5, you must be a member of one
of the discussion forums that Brian, who runs the service, hangs out at, and
you must mention the forum when ordering the gig. Just be aware, that this
preferential treatment, given to a subset of customers, gives extra value that
may be the source of the excessively high praise. Keep in mind, however, that
you might not get the preferential treatment or the value from which the raves
are derived, and the raves themselves are often from the same raters over and
over. (NOTE: Fiverr allows the same raters to rate as many times as they use a
service with no limitations and that's how a few raters rating over and over can
suddenly become thousands.)

Further, when reviewers are talking about getting XYZ of
downloads from a Bknights promotion, they're talking about books in popular
categories being given away for free at Amazon that may or may not have
received any actual boost from the service.

ReadIndies advice for anyone considering Bknights is to use
the website gig and no other options. The Twitter and Facebook gigs have
virtually no value (and should in fact be free as part of the standard $5 gig).
The value of the newsletter is growing, as the subscriber base grows. However,
at the time of this writing, having a listing in the newsletter isn’t worth $5.

If possible, you should also ensure you receive more than
one service for $5. Otherwise, at present, way too many books are being
featured each day for there to be any consistent value. As examples:

90 books were featured on 2/17; 71 books were featured on
2/16; 59 books were featured on 2/15

121 books were featured on 3/18 and 79 were featured on 3/17

That's way too many features for any book to stand out, and
substantially different than the number of books featured historically. As an
example, these numbers are 3X - 4X what they were last June/July -- and that
was a time when listings could stay up for multiple days as well.

To be clear as crystal, Bknights was absolutely a good value
last June/July and earlier, with 25 or so books featured each day. However,
with 80, 90, 100 or more books now being featured at a time, Bknights is no
longer a good value. Some few who use the service may get results to return the
nominal investment; many others won’t.

It should also be pointed out that Bknights is much more
than a $5 service. If in fact 70 books on average are new features each
day, that means Bknights could quickly develop into a $100K+ a year business. While we
think Fiverr may be a good place to start a business, we hope Bknights will develop the service further to ensure every author gets true value.

Question: If I am
trying to promote my first novel, should I avoid these services? - as I
wouldn't earn enough to recoup the costs, and I don't have any other titles
that might benefit. Any recommendations for first timers?

Answer: On the
contrary, BargainReading, Fussy Reader and The Reading Club truly are the best
performers with respect to return on investment, dollar for dollar. Under our focused
tests, which carefully tracked only true results, these three actually either came
very close to earning back 100% of the investment or actually earned back the
investment plus. No other book promotions services we’ve tested have done that,
ENT and BookBub included.

Enewsreadertoday and BookBub remain top recommendations and
thumbs up selections. However, they didn’t give a full return on investment. With
Enewsreadertoday: At .99, authors earned back $7 on average from royalties and
paid $30 on average. At $1.99, authors earned back $14 on average from
royalties and paid $45 on average. At $2.99, authors earned back $62 on average
from royalties and paid $90 on average.

@ .99 this is a .23 ROI. @ 1.99 this is a .31 ROI. @ 2.99
this is a .69 ROI. All of which is a good and tangible result, which you don’t
necessarily see with marketing.

With BookBub: At .99, books didn’t recoup the cost of the
promotion or even come close; the average .99 book earned $108 (.35 from each
sale) but the average promotion cost was $420. At $1.99, books didn’t recoup
the cost of the promotion or even come close either; the average $1.99 book
earned $224 (.70 from each sale) but the average promotion cost was $772. At
$2.99, books came closer to recouping the cost of the promotion; the average
$2.99 book earned $788 (2.04 from each sale) but the average promotion cost was
$1294.

@ .99 this is a .26 ROI. @ 1.99 this is a .29 ROI. @ 2.99
this is a .61 ROI. All of which is a good and tangible result.

The reason ENT and BookBub remain top recommendations are
because you typically don’t see complete return of investment from marketing –
the actual return isn’t necessarily a tangible result. This is true of all
marketing – all marketing ever done. Marketing isn’t necessarily about the
instant sales. It’s about building recognition, brand, name, etc. What you get
with ENT is access to some segment of 500,000 readers. What you get with
BookBub is access to some segment of 5 million readers.

With Bargain Reading, for .99 books the earnings were $38,
$47, and $57 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12”
authors, after paying $50 on average. For 1.99 books the was $50, $59, and $69
respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12” authors, after
paying $50 on average, actually showing ROI.

@ .99 the ROI is .76, .94 and 1.14 respectively.

@ 1.99 the ROI is 1.0, 1.18 and 1.38 respectively.

@ 2.99 the ROI is 1.22, 1.34 and 1.4 respectively.

All of which are exceptional, tangible results.

With Fussy Reader, For .99 books, the earnings were $88,
$92, and $99 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12”
authors, after paying $90 on average. For 1.99 books, the earnings were $102,
$106, and $114 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12”
authors, after paying $90 on average. For 2.99 books, the earnings were $111,
$116, and $122 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12”
authors, after paying $90 on average.

@ .99 the ROI is .98, 1.02 and 1.1 respectively.

@ 1.99 the ROI is 1.13, 1.18 and 1.27 respectively.

@ 2.99 the ROI is 1.23, 1.29 and 1.36 respectively.

All of which are exceptional, tangible results.

With The Reading Club, authors who paid $300, earned back
$295 to $390 and authors who paid $750 earned back $729 to $965. Thus, the ROI ranged
from .98 to 1.3 for genres with smaller audiences and from .97 to 1.29 for
genres with larger audiences.

All of which are exceptional, tangible results.

That said, it’s very hard to build following and sales
with a first novel. Better to write the second than to spend money on marketing,
but if you’re going to spend money, services that give you value over time
would be your best bet, rather than one-time listings.

With first-time novelists, I would avoid one-time
listings for the most part, unless your book has been well received and has many
favorable reviews. For that reason, I would more readily recommend BargainReading, Fussy
Reader and The Reading Club to first-time novelists over the alternatives. You’re
going to get so much more value for your money with respect to the things that
can lead to long-term success: name/brand recognition, awareness, etc. As an example, Bargain Reading and Fussy Reader cost less than $20 a month for regular promotion and you'll get so much more value than if you purchased a few $10 listings somewhere.

But you
really need to keep working on the next and the next novel to build that to
success.

3.02.2015

Recently, Read Indies completed a year-long study of book
promotion services and published several research reports. Some of the top
services we discovered in our research include Bargain Reading, The Reading
Club and Fussy Reader.

First of all, these services in their original form were
only available to traditional publishers and mainstream companies. We asked
them why not indies? We got an earful about how their readership preferred
traditional books and products, blah, blah, blah. So we screamed and hollered
until they let us in (and THEN we tested the HECK out of their services :-)

We found these services to be so effective that we're not
continuing with our own efforts to manage separate promotion services and
instead joining their partner network, which rewards our promotional reach with
discounts, offers enhancements anytime we market through them and more. That
network is called Marketing Partners Network. You too can try to get into their
partners network here: http://www.the-reading.club/marketers/index.htm.
If you use these services or join the network, let them know ReadIndies sent
you or you might not ever get in.

18 participants tried each service and tracked the results.
Each participant used at least 2 of the 3 services:

Bargain Reading has a 4-month promotion cycle

The Reading Club has a 6-month promotion cycle

Fussy Reader has 6-month promotion cycle

It’s important to note that The Reading Club features 2
primary promotion titles for each cycle for authors who have “4 to 12” or “12
or more” books. The total of number of promoted books was 56 and they included
books from 15 genres:

Mystery

Thriller

Adventure

Horror

Contemporary Fiction

Inspirational Fiction

Contemporary Romance

Paranormal Romance

Historical Romance

History

True Crime

Advice/How-To

Business

Teen/Young Adult

Children's

As before, our overall rating for these services is a simple
thumbs up or thumbs down system:

Two thumbs up - Excellent

One thumb up - Good

One thumb down - Not Good

Two thumbs down - Not Recommended

To this, we added a numeric indicator from 0 to 20 to
indicate level of success regarding downloads or sales during the promotion:

0 - the lowest score, the worst value for your time, money

10 - the middle score, a good value for your time, money

20 - the highest score, the highest value for your time,
money

Note that the scores are about value for your time AND
money. All of these services require a bit more of your time than any other
services because they work to promote you over long periods of time, rather
than in a one-time listing. Whether the time investment and the monetary
investment are worth it is up to you to decide.

Something we really liked about these services is that they
were willing to listen to our feedback and make adjustments to their offerings
based on the results of our research, which we released preliminarily to them
quite some time ago. Not only that, they incorporated these changes into their
new enhanced offerings when they recently re-launched. To be clear also,
Bargain Reading, The Reading Club and Fussy Reader are new brands for their
pre-existing products and were designed specifically for indie and traditional
books rather than traditional books and other traditional products.NOTE: Made the preceding bold since some people apparently don't understand what a new offering / brand means.

Based on our feedback and work together, they developed
several features to remove much of the frustration we experienced while trying
to work with other promotion services. The features include:

Dedicated Slot –
The services limit the number of promotions at any one time using dedicated
slots in marketing inventory. This reduces the number of products being
marketed at the same time and improves visibility and overall chance for
success of every participating author.

Express Lane – Once you are accepted, you no longer have to re-qualify your books and pray
they are going to accept you. You simply follow the Traffic Forecasts and
submit when there are openings and because you’ve been pre-screened you’ll
always be accepted (though there are a few restrictions, such as those regarding
overly suggestive and explicit book covers).

Traffic Forecast
– Lets members know how far in advance promotions are booked. Since only currently
accepted authors get access to a forecast page about openings, here’s the
forecast as of Feb 25, 2015:

Website Next
Availability

The Reading Club June
29, 2015

Fussy Reader June
17, 2015

Bargain Reading July
2, 2015

Hold Queue – Puts
your submission in the hold queue and lets you keep your place in line for
opening slots. Kind of like taking a number at a store. This saves you from
having to submit, get rejected due to lack of space, and then do this over and
over in the hopes you’ll eventually get an opening.

It’s important to note that normally the Hold Queue is only available
to Diamond members and Tier 3 marketing partners. Diamond members are simply
members who have used the service 3 or more times, or who have chosen AlwaysOn
promotion. Tier 3 marketing partners are members of Marketing Partners Network
with a large verified social media reach. Each is limited to a certain number
of listings in the hold queue, but we found a Tier 3 partner willing to share
their queue: Kindle Indies (https://www.fiverr.com/kindleindies).
For $5, you can use one of their slots in the hold queue.

If you get in the hold queue, you should be contacted as
openings become available. Sometimes slots can open sooner
than expected too, which is a very good thing.

Don’t put yourself in the hold queue if you don’t think you
can respond and reserve a spot within 48-hours (2 business days, not weekends /
holidays) of email notification regarding availability. The reason for this is
that if you don’t respond to the follow up, regardless of whether the email got
stuck in your junk folder or you were in Tahiti, you won’t be eligible to use
the hold queue again for 1 year.

Getting in the hold queue doesn’t mean you must accept the
spot. However, from experience, if you turn down a held opening twice in a row,
you’ll not ever again get in the hold queue.

It’s important to point out that the services work together
and within their Marketing Partners Network to promote accepted works not just
once but with targeted marketing over a 120 to 180 day promotion window, giving
authors value over time instead of a one-shot and soon-gone listing. In
addition to mailings, articles in the press, features, interviews and more: The
Reading Club members are promoted throughout all Tier 1, 2 and 3 partner
networks; Fussy Reader members are promoted throughout all Tier 1 and 2
networks; and Bargain Reading members are promoted throughout all Tier 1
networks. Indeed, an important part of the value of these services comes from the marketing networks. Bargain Reading may also go to a 180-day window. If so, then all three
will use the 180-day window.

Under our research of their original offerings, all three
services performed better than any other service we tested (except for BookBub).
The downloads and sales listed are those downloads and sales that were above
typical levels seen for any title. For example, if a title typically had 12
sales a month, 12 sales a month were subtracted from the results to give the
total additional sales for a month.

Bargain Reading’s total reach is 500,000+. Bargain Reading
accomplishes this reach through its own combined mailings lists, its websites,
social media and its partner networks. Promotion with Bargain Reading also buys
you promotion with partner networks, and the coordination is all handled by
Bargain Reading.

Bargain Reading doesn't charge a different rate based on the
price of featured books. Thus, it doesn’t matter whether the book is FREE,.
.99, 1.99, 2.99 and 3.99. The reason for this is that their promotions focus on
a whole author concept and not individual titles per se. That said, authors get
1 primary title for promotion during their 4-month promotion window. Having
anyone promote you periodically for 4-months for $40 - $60 is a pretty good
value and a rate of about $10 to $15 per month per title. For that you’ll get
mailing list promotion, a web page and some targeted periodic marketing.

Success Level for Free Book: 4.

Success with free books was hard to gauge because of the
long promotion window. Bargain Reading lets you put titles on and off FREE
status, various discount and paid statuses. You do this by giving them a price
forecast like this:

Book 1 Everyday Price:
$5.99

June 1 - June 5: FREE

Jul 15 - Jul 30: $2.99

Aug 18 - Aug 20: FREE

Sep 23 - Sep 26: $.99
Where AMAZON, GOOGLE, NOOK, APPLE, KOBO

They then set up promotions around these various free and
sale prices. The where value tells them where the sales will be, as in what
major retailers. They only care about Amazon, Google, KoboBooks, Apple and
Barnes & Noble.

If you have changes or a previously unforeseen sale, they
let you send them updates too (but only a few during the term because they’ll
charge you extra if you try to make changes every week), though at least 14
days in advance. With this in mind, the following results are extrapolated as
if the titles had been free during the entire promotion:

Fewer than 650 downloads (above typical levels) on average
for lower flat-fee ranges ($30/$35) and fewer than 1275 downloads (above
typical levels) on average with higher flat-fee ranges ($50/$60). Most other
promotion companies we researched (except Bookbub) brought in about 100 – 200
downloads for each $10 of investment.

By this metric Bargain Reading did well
with about 210 downloads for each $10 of cost. Unlike most other services,
Bargain Reading doesn't charge a different rate for free or paid books. It's
one-flat rate for all, and we loved that.

Success Level .99, 1.99: 5.

Bargain Reading accepts all price levels for bargains,
including boxed sets as high as 9.99 and even traditional publisher books at
9.99 (as long as it represents a deep discount or everyday value). For example,
a traditional publisher may have a $34.99 boxed set that they mark down to
$9.99.

The participating authors tested the service with books
priced .99 to 3.99.

NOTE: As stated earlier, Bargain Reading lets you put titles
on and off FREE status, various discount and paid statuses. You do this by
giving them a price forecast like the one shown earlier. They then set up
promotions around these various free and sale prices. If you have changes or a
sudden sale, they let you send them updates too. With this in mind, the
following results are extrapolated as if the titles had been paid at the price
specified during the entire promotion.

Fewer than 46 @.99 and 37 @ 1.99 sales on average for lower
flat-fee ranges books ($30 to $40) and fewer than 78 @.99 and 61 @ 1.99 sales
on average with higher flat-fee ranges ($40 to $60). Unlike most other
services, Bargain Reading doesn't charge rates based on sale price. It's
one-flat rate for all, and we loved that.

With these sales level, authors didn’t earn enough to recoup
the cost of the promotion. At .99, authors earned back $22 on average from
royalties and paid $50 on average. At $1.99, authors earned back $34 on average
from royalties and paid $50 on average.

However, Bargain Reading also helps to promote other titles
by the author, through its website, articles, and related promotions of the
author and his/her works (the whole author approach they use). Bargain Reading
calls this secondary promotion and participating authors did see an increase of
sales of other titles throughout the promotion period. Every author gets a web
page, one or more articles, etc. as part of the promotion.

The other sites in this group have 3 categories of authors
and that's how they work promotion on the back side too. Those with "3 or
less" works, those with "4 to 12" works and those with
"More than 12" works.

Participating authors in the "3 or less" category
saw on average 12 additional sales (sales above typical levels) of their other
works during the promotion period. With the average price of these titles ~ $2.24,
this meant about $16 in additional earnings.

Participating authors in the "4 to 12" category
saw on average 19 additional sales (sales above typical levels) of their other
works during the promotion period. With the average price of these titles ~ $2.24,
this meant about $25 in additional earnings.

Participating authors in the "More than 12" category
saw on the biggest boost, an average 26 additional sales (sales above typical
levels) of their other works during the promotion period. With the average
price of these titles ~ $2.24, this meant about $35 in additional earnings.

This meant:

For .99 books the total additional earnings was $38, $47,
and $57 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12” authors,
which earned back the investment (just barely sometimes).

For 1.99 books the total additional earnings was $50, $59,
and $69 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12” authors, which
earned back the investment (most of the time).

Success Level 2.99, 3.99: 5.

Fewer than 19 @ 2.99 and 12 @ 3.99 sales on average for lower
flat-fee ranges ($30 to $40) and fewer than 26 @ 2.99 and 21 @ 3.99 sales on
average with higher flat-fee ranges ($40 to $60). Unlike most other services,
Bargain Reading doesn't charge rates based on sale price. It's one-flat rate
for all, and we loved that.

NOTE: As stated earlier, Bargain Reading lets you put titles
on and off FREE status, various discount and paid statuses. You do this by
giving them a price forecast like the one shown earlier. They then set up
promotions around these various free and sale prices. If you have changes or a
sudden sale, they let you send them updates too. With this in mind, the
following results are extrapolated as if the titles had been paid at the price
specified during the entire promotion.

With these sales level, authors didn’t earn enough to recoup
the cost of the promotion (though it was close). At 2.99, authors earned back $47
on average from royalties and paid $50 on average. At $3.99, authors earned
back $46 on average from royalties and paid $50 on average. (The promotion made
more because authors earned ~70% on these sales instead of ~35% from Amazon.)

However, Bargain Reading also helps to promote other titles
by the author, through websites, articles, and related promotions of the author
and his/her works (the whole author approach they use). Bargain Reading calls
this secondary promotion and participating authors did see an increase of sales
of other titles throughout the promotion period. Every author gets a web page,
one or more articles, etc as part of the promotion.

The other sites in this group have 3 categories of authors
and that's how they work promotion on the back side too. Those with "3 or
less" works, those with "4 to 12" works and those with
"More than 12" works.

Participating authors in the "3 or less" category
saw on average 8 additional sales (meaning sales above typical levels) of their
other works during the promotion period. With the average price of these titles
~ $2.79, this meant about $14 in additional earnings.

Participating authors in the "4 to 12" category
saw on average 12 additional sales (meaning sales above typical levels) of
their other works during the promotion period. With the average price of these
titles at ~$2.79, this meant about $20 in additional earnings.

Participating authors in the "More than 12"
category saw on the biggest boost, an average 14 additional sales (meaning
sales above typical levels) of their other works during the promotion period.
With the average price of these titles at $2.79, this meant about $23 in
additional earnings.

This meant:

For 2.99 books, the total additional earnings was then $61,
$67, and $70 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12”
authors, which did an okay job of earning authors additional value for their
investment.

For 3.99 books, the total additional earnings was then $60,
$66, and $69 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12”
authors, which did an okay job of earning authors additional value for their
investment.

Fussy Reader’s total reach is about 1,500,000+. Fussy Reader accomplishes this reach through its own focused pooled mailings lists,
its websites, its social media venues and its partner network. Promotion with Fussy
Reader also buys you promotion with partner networks, and the coordination is
all handled by Fussy Reader.

Fussy Reader also doesn't charge a different rate for the
price of featured books. Again, the reason for this is that their promotions
focus on the whole author concept and not individual titles per se. That said,
authors get 1 primary title for promotion during their 6-month promotion
window. Having anyone promote your periodically for 6-months for $60 - $120 is
also a pretty good value and a rate of about $10 to $20 per month per title.
For that you’ll get mailing list promotion, a web page and targeted periodic
marketing. Some repeat authors even got free press releases for new and
pre-order titles.

Success Level Free Book: 5.

Like Bargain Reading, Fussy Reader lets you put titles on
and off FREE status, various discount and paid statuses. You do this by giving
them a price forecast like this:

They then set up promotions around these various free and
sale prices. If you have changes or an unforeseen sale, they let you send them
updates too, though you must give at least 14 days advance notice. With this in
mind, the following results are extrapolated as if the titles had been free
during the entire promotion:

Fewer than 1450 downloads (above typical levels) on average
for lower flat-fee ranges ($60/$70) and fewer than 2600 downloads on average
with higher flat-fee ranges ($110/$120). Most other promotion companies we
researched (except Bookbub) brought in about 100 – 200 downloads for each $10
of investment.

By this metric Fussy Reader did well with about 215 downloads
per $10 of cost. Unlike most other services, Fussy Reader doesn't charge a
different rate for free or paid books. It's one-flat rate for all, and we loved
that.

Success Level .99, 1.99: 6.

Fussy Reader also doesn't charge a different rate for the
price of featured books. It's one-flat rate for all prices. Fussy Reader accepts
all price levels for deals, including boxed sets as high as 9.99. The
participating authors tested the service with books priced .99 to 3.99.

NOTE: As stated earlier, Fussy Reader lets you put titles on
and off FREE status, various discount and paid statuses. You do this by giving
them a price forecast like the one shown earlier. They then set up promotions
around these various free and sale prices. If you have changes or a sudden
sale, they let you send them updates too. With this in mind, the following
results are extrapolated as if the titles had been paid at the price specified
during the entire promotion.

Fewer than 94 @ .99 and 59 @ 1.99 sales on average for lower
flat-fee ranges ($60 to $70) and fewer than 187 @ .99 and 121 @ 1.99 sales on
average with higher flat-fee ranges ($110 to $120).

With these sales level, authors didn’t earn enough to recoup
the cost of the promotion. At .99, authors earned back $49 on average from
royalties and paid $90 on average. At $1.99, authors earned back $63 on average
from royalties and paid $90 on average.

However, Fussy Reader also helps to promote other titles by
the author, through websites, articles, and related promotions of the author
and his/her works (the whole author approach they use). Fussy Reader calls this
secondary promotion and participating authors did see an increase of sales of
other titles throughout the promotion period. Every author gets a web page, one
or more articles, etc as part of the promotion.

The other sites in this group have 3 categories of authors
and that's how they work promotion on the back side too. Those with "3 or
less" works, those with "4 to 12" works and those with
"More than 12" works.

Participating authors in the "3 or less" category
saw on average 29 additional sales (sales above typical levels) of their other
works during the promotion period. With the average price of these titles ~
$2.24, this meant about $39 in additional earnings.

Participating authors in the "4 to 12" category
saw on average 32 additional sales (sales above typical levels) of their other
works during the promotion period. With the average price of these titles ~
$2.24, this meant about $43 in additional earnings.

Participating authors in the "More than 12"
category saw on the biggest boost, an average 38 additional sales (sales above
typical levels) of their other works during the promotion period. With the
average price of these titles ~ $2.24, this meant about $51 in additional
earnings.

This meant:

For .99 books, the total additional earnings was then $88, $92,
and $99 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12” authors,
which earned back the investment (just barely most of the time).

For 1.99 books, the total additional earnings was then $102,
$106, and $114 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12”
authors, which did an okay job of earning authors full value for their
investment.

Success Level 2.99, 3.99: 6.

Fewer than 28 @ 2.99 and 23 @ 3.99 sales on average for lower
flat-fee ranges ($60 to $70) and fewer than 52 @ 2.99 and 40 @ 3.99 sales on
average with higher flat-fee ranges ($110 to $120). Unlike most other services,
Fussy Reader doesn't charge rates based on sale price. It's one-flat rate for
all, and we loved that.

With these sales level, authors didn’t earn enough to recoup
the cost of the promotion (but just barely). At 2.99, authors earned back $84
on average from royalties and paid $90 on average. At $3.99, authors earned
back $88 on average from royalties and paid $90 on average. (The promotion made
more profit primarily because authors earned ~70% on these sales instead of
~35% at Amazon.)

However, Fussy Reader also helps to promote other titles by
the author, through its website, articles, and related promotions of the author
and his/her works (the whole author approach they use). Fussy Reader calls this
secondary promotion and participating authors did see an increase of sales of other
titles throughout the promotion period. Every author gets a web page, one or
more articles, etc as part of the promotion.

The other sites in this group have 3 categories of authors
and that's how they work promotion on the back side too. Those with "3 or
less" works, those with "4 to 12" works and those with
"More than 12" works.

These numbers are the same as discussed previously.
Participating authors in the "3 or less" category saw on average 16
additional sales (sales above typical levels) of their other works during the
promotion period. With the average price of these titles ~ $2.79, this meant
about $27 in additional earnings.

Participating authors in the "4 to 12" category
saw on average 19 additional sales (sales above typical levels) of their other
works during the promotion period. With the average price of these titles at ~$2.79,
this meant about $32 in additional earnings.

Participating authors in the "More than 12"
category saw on the biggest boost, an average 23 additional sales (sales above
typical levels) of their other works during the promotion period. With the
average price of these titles at $2.79, this meant about $38 in additional
earnings.

This meant:

For 2.99 books, the total additional earnings was then $111,
$116, and $122 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12”
authors, which did an okay job of earning authors additional value for their
investment.

For 3.99 books, the total additional earnings was then $115,
$121, and $127 respectively for “3 or less”, “4 to 12” and “More than 12”
authors, which did an okay job of earning authors additional value for their
investment.

The Reading Club’s total reach is 5,000,000+. The Reading
Club accomplishes this reach through its own specialized multilevel mailings
lists, its websites, its social media venues and its partner network. Promotion
with The Reading Club also buys you promotion with partner networks, and the
coordination is all handled by The Reading Club.

The Reading Club also doesn't charge a different rate for
the price of featured books, but does charge based on the number works an
author has published. The reason for this is that their network is so large and
they promote the whole author as well as the title or titles you’ve setup for
promotion. That said, authors with “3 or less” works get 1 primary title for
promotion during their 6-month promotion window and authors with “4 to 12” or
“More than 12” get 2 primary titles for promotion.

Following this, the current rate (and they just changed them
so we had to redo our numbers) for 1 promoted mystery/thriller book is:

$440 for “3 or less” authors

$625 / 2 for “4 to 12” authors, which is $312.50 per title

$750 / 2 for “12 or more” authors, which is $375 per title

And the current rate for teen / young adult is:

$180 for “3 or less” authors

$255 / 2 for “4 to 12” authors, which is $127.50 per title

$305 / 2 for “12 or more” authors, which is $152.50 per
title

Thus, the low range for cost is between $105 and $150, the
midrange of cost is $160 to $280 and the high range of cost is $290 and up. For
our purposes, we’ll extrapolate the cost for $100, $200 and $300 of promotion.

Success Level Free Book: 7.

The Reading Club doesn't charge a different rate for free or
paid books either. It's one-flat rate for all, and we loved that.

Like Bargain Reading and Fussy Reader, The Reading Club lets
you put titles on and off FREE status, various discount and paid statuses. You
do this by giving them a price forecast like this:

They then set up promotions around these various free and
sale prices. If you have changes or an unforeseen sale, they let you send them
updates too, though you must give at least 14 days advance notice. With this in
mind, the following results are extrapolated as if the titles had been free
during the entire promotion:

On average the participants had 210 – 300 downloads per $10
of cost. Most other promotion companies we researched (except Bookbub) brought
in about 100 – 200 downloads for each $10 of investment. By this metric The
Reading Club did well.

Success Level .99, 1.99: 8.

The Reading Club also doesn't charge a different rate for
the price of featured books. It's one-flat rate for all prices. The Reading
Club accepts all price levels for deals, including boxed sets as high as 9.99.
The participating authors tested the service with books priced .99 to 3.99.

NOTE: As stated earlier, The Reading Club lets you put
titles on and off FREE status, various discount and paid statuses. You do this
by giving them a price forecast like the one shown earlier. They then set up
promotions around these various free and sale prices. If you have changes or a
sudden sale, they let you send them updates too. With this in mind, the
following results are extrapolated as if the titles had been paid at the price
specified during the entire promotion.

Fewer than 190 @ .99 and 115 @ 1.99 sales on average for each
$100 of cost. With these sales levels, authors didn’t earn enough to recoup the
cost of the promotion. At .99, authors earned back $67 on average from
royalties for each $100 paid on average. At $1.99, authors earned back $80 on
average from royalties for each $100 paid on average. This is per title.

Success Level 2.99, 3.99: 8.

As stated earlier, The Reading Club lets you put titles on
and off FREE status, various discount and paid statuses. You do this by giving
them a price forecast like the one shown earlier. They then set up promotions
around these various free and sale prices. If you have changes or a sudden
sale, they let you send them updates too. With this in mind, the following
results are extrapolated as if the titles had been paid at the price specified
during the entire promotion.

Fewer than 38 @ 2.99 and 23 @ 3.99 sales on average for each
$100 of cost. With these sales levels, authors didn’t earn enough to recoup the
cost of the promotion. At 2.99, authors earned back $80 on average from
royalties for each $100 paid on average. At $3.99, authors earned back $64 on
average from royalties for each $100 paid on average. This is per title.

Putting This Together

The Reading Club also helps to promote other titles by the
author, through websites, articles, and related promotions of the author and
his/her works (the whole author approach they use). The Reading Club calls this
secondary promotion and participating authors did see a good increase of sales
of other titles throughout the promotion period. Every author gets a web page,
articles, press coverage and more during the term of the promotion. Free press
releases for some new and pre-order titles was a good perk, but required
additional author input.

The 3 categories of authors The Reading Club uses really do
have significant meaning. It’s much harder for them to gain traction for
authors with 3 or less works than it is for authors with "4 to 12"
works or "More than 12" works and this is reflected in the cost of
the promotion.

Participating authors in the "3 or less" category
saw on average 94 additional sales (sales above typical levels) of their other
works during the promotion period. With the average price of these titles ~
$2.44, this meant about $138 in additional earnings. This is during the whole
term of the promotion.

Participating authors in the "4 to 12" category
saw on average 126 additional sales (sales above typical levels) of their other
works during the promotion period. With the average price of these titles ~
$2.44, this meant about $184 in additional earnings.

Participating authors in the "More than 12"
category saw on the biggest boost, an average 151 additional sales (sales above
typical levels) of their other works during the promotion period. With the
average price of these titles ~ $2.44, this meant about $221 in additional
earnings.

To put this in perspective, we must look at the additional
success per one million readers reached. On average, these numbers are based on
about 1.5 million target readers. Genres with larger target audiences would
need to be adjusted upward, while genres with lower target audiences would need
to be adjusted downward.

As an example, the mystery/thriller authors saw results that
were 165% better for additional sales on average because there are currently
2.5 million in the target audience. This meant the additional sales were 155
instead of 94, 207 instead of 126, and 249 instead of 151 on average. Thus, if
the mystery/thriller authors spent $750 to promote two titles, the additional
earnings were $729 - $965 calculated as follows:

Meanwhile, the teen / young adult authors saw results that
were 68% of the average for additional sales because there are currently 1.02
million in the target audience. This meant the additional sales were 64 instead
of 94, 86 instead of 126 and 103 instead of 151 on average. Thus, if the teen /
young adult authors spent $300 to promote two titles, the additional earnings
were $295 - $390 calculated:

Over all, the participants felt Bargain Reading, Fussy
Reader and The Reading Club did a good job of giving value. The participants were pleased that mailing lists were only one part of much larger offerings.

Although sometimes
the promotions didn’t quite earn back their full cost, the value of a lengthy
promotion window is hard to deny, especially as they continued providing value
through multiple special sales and not just a one-time deal.

But if there were any services who hated our numeric ratings
(and we mean vehemently) it was The Reading Club, Fussy Reader and Bargain
Reading. They didn’t understand how services that performed as well as theirs
did, got such low ratings. We explained that the scale was from 1 to 20 and no
service has scored higher than 10.

Our ratings were one of the reasons they wanted to work with
us to try to improve their services and make them better. Because of the 4- to 6-month promotion windows, it will be
some time before we can rate the new enhanced services, but we are tracking
results currently. Preliminarily, we do expect to see marginal improvements all
around.

Overall, these are good values from services that value you
and make it easier for you to be an author.

BOOKMARK AND CHECK BACK.

WILL TRY TO ADD MORE TIPS

FOR GETTING IN WITHIN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS

Tips for Success

When using these services, you’ll do best if you follow this
advice:

If you put "ReadIndies" in the notes, they'll know a Tier 1 partner referred you and that should help your chances.

All three services are different. Create a Word document for
each with all the information you are going to submit to each and save this.
Use this Word document anytime you are going to resubmit. That way you’ll have
most everything handy and just need to make a few changes.

Check and double-check your submission before you send it.
Provide as much information as you can and as much detail as you can. Whenever
they ask for a website address or a link by sure to use the full link, such as http://readindies.blogspot.com. The
http:// is needed to pass the data check.

Each of these services has extensive documentation on how it
all works read this before submitting. In the lower right corner of each page,
you’ll see a link called FAQ or Frequent Questions. Read the FAQ after you read
the documentation. It’ll answer any questions you might have (including those
you never thought to ask). Each site is different so study each closely before
submitting.

Currently, about 1 in 8 get into Bargain Reading, about 1 in
10 into Fussy Reader and about 1 in 20 into The Reading Club. They are highly
selective, but the “not getting in” is more about space that anything else.
They limit the number of promotions they run at any one time on a per genre
basis. All I can say to that is hold queue, hold queue, hold queue. If you use
the hold queue, your chances of getting in improve to about 1 in 3 across the
board.

Increase your odds even further by drafting a 6-month price
forecast for the book or books you are submitting that is TWO – THREEE MONTHS
IN THE FUTURE and put this in the “notes/why I should be” section as a single
line of text without tabs or line returns, such as:

This will let them know you’ve taken the time to learn about
how their system works and are serious about getting a promotion. The 2-3 month
in the future part is important because they typically are booked at least 3
months ahead of time. Thus, if it is April, give them a 6-month price forecast
starting in June or better still, July. Be sure to specify where the sales will
be. Simply state AMAZON, GOOGLE, KOBO, APPLE, NOOK or any appropriate
combination, even if only: AMAZON.

If it says 25-word Bio or 25-word descriptions, they really mean
25 words, not 26 and not 30 or 50 or 100.

Make each listing unique, if possible. If you are asked to
provide a summary of your book, try to make this unique each time.

Be sure to track the date you submit your promotions. You
are allowed to submit once every 30 days to each service. Don’t submit more
than once every 30 days to any of these.

Make sure you provide an email address that you check
regularly. It will be used for all correspondence. If you are accepted, you’ll
receive an emailed invoice through PayPal with a request for payment. Make sure
you have a PayPal account set up beforehand.

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